I am Legend: Untold
by Solar Eclipse23
Summary: 2009: The Krippen Vaccine is released to the public. Year 2012: The world is an empty shell, apart for a few survivors in the midst of savage creatures that plague the night. Novelization of the movie, with new characters, elements and a continued ending.
1. Prologue: Recollections

_Day 21:_

I can't believe it. I've lasted three weeks since the infection hit full force. Three Fridays ago we were all quarantined. I've never seen Los Angeles in such a state before. Cops, the army, the National guard in every direction. So many guns that when I looked around, all I could see was the flash of steel.

They told us it was no longer safe in the city; the infection had spread quicker than anyone had anticipated. In less than two days the symptoms of those treated altered drastically and they became violent, exhibiting various signs of psychosis. I took notes about it all in my books: those who had been in contact with the Krippen Virus were characterized by derangement of personality, and loss of contact with reality, and deterioration of normal human behaviour. They exhibited a much more aggressive and cannibalistic personality. I wanted to be a psychiatrist one day. Now there's nobody left to analyze.

No one was safe. They spread across the city like the disease they were, leaving a trail of blood and gore and death in their wake. My daddy, he was a cop. When I saw one of them for the first time... I'll never forget it.

It was late. The radio was on full volume as we packed our stuff. Dad was yelling to us that we could only take what was necessary. Sarah and I were too scared to think straight at that point. Mom was the one who organized us, got us moving, helped us focus. With her we managed to snap ourselves out of our torpor and help her pack emergency clothing, some money, and a bit of food, just enough rations to carry with us. Everything else had to be left behind.

Dad was getting his badge from the upstairs bedroom when I saw it.

It stopped at the foot of the driveway. I looked right at it. It didn't see me at first; it was just standing there, its shoulders shaking rapidly with its hyperventilation. Their lungs didn't work as well as ours do; I documented that as well.

Then it turned. God, it turned so quickly. It looked right into my eyes, and I stared back: there was nothing left in them, no flicker of life, no intelligence. Just one thing.

A terrible, unadulterated hunger.

It let out the most terrible cry I've ever heard. A loud, grating shriek that tore through the night like a piercing foghorn, ripping the air apart. I could see its mouth wide open, its broken and jagged teeth glinting in the moonlight. I could see all the dried blood caked to its face, and fresher layers of it dripping from its mouth and coursing down its throat. To this day I still wake up at night, coursed in cold sweat, remembering that awful image, which has branded itself into the backs of my eyes.

I'll never forget it.

That was the first time I saw the Infected. That was the first time I've heard one scream.

Before I could even draw breath it was moving – _so fast, how did they get so fast? ­_– letting out those shrieks and howls as it bounded up the driveway on all fours, froth pouring from between its teeth. I couldn't move; my legs had turned to jelly. The most I could manage was an involuntary twitch before the Infected launched itself at the window, right at me.

The shattering of the glass awoke me and brought my senses back. I screamed. I screamed so loud I'm surprised that the TV didn't shatter, that the cans of non perishable food items in the cupboards didn't implode, that the Infected's ears didn't suddenly run rampant with blood. God, I screamed so loud.

But it got me in midair, and one of its rotting, translucent hands clamped itself over my throat. My scream withered and died.

It had me pinned, straddling me above the waist like some sick sex fanatic. One hand was over my mouth, the other pinning my left arm. Its nails were as sharp as daggers, ripping into my shirt and bra and leaving red streaks across my chest.

Its face was suddenly lit with this horrible smile – a smile that seemed akin to a grimace. All of its teeth were bared, its translucent lips stretched across its decaying gums, the redness at the corners of its eyes pulsating with anticipation of the feast to come. I couldn't even tell if it was male or female to begin with.

It leaned over my throat, and that's when the first bullet caught it in the chest.

I felt its weight suddenly wrenched away from me. I couldn't hear; my ears were ringing from the explosion of my father's gun. I looked to my side, and through the silver blur of my tears I could see him, standing so impressive in the doorway, shining through my tears and looking like an angel shrouded in white.

He aimed again, fired. Another thunderclap in my head; all my senses bellowed in protest. Through the haze and burnt smell of gunpowder I dimly heard an agonized shriek. As I looked over to my other side, still lying on the floor, I saw the Infected struggling to its feet, its screams slowly transforming into those of rage. It erupted, running at my daddy with the force of a bull elephant. He squeezed off two more thunderbolt shots but it got him, it got him.

They both went flying through the doorway. I could hear his grunts and the Infected's snarling as they wrestled. I got to my feet, slowly and agonizingly, my ears still hurting from the gunshots, screaming at myself to move faster. _He could die, you idiot. He could die because you're not getting to him fast enough. He could be dying right now, and it would be your fault, because he was saving you._

I moved faster.

When I staggered through the doorway, I saw them thrashing about on the floor like a pair of dogs in heat – only dogs wouldn't have been trying to claw each other to death. The Infected was swiping and scratching at my father, who was – barely – holding it at bay with one hand, and reaching for his gun with the other. It had fallen from his hand when the Infected tackled him, just out of reach of his desperate, twitching fingers.

"Run!" Daddy choked out, before the Infected slapped a sickening hand over his mouth. I felt a wave of revulsion and fury as I remembered the sensation. My dad wrenched his head to the side, freeing his mouth, and again he cried: "run!"

I couldn't. I couldn't leave him. But I heard a sob from upstairs and I knew Mom was hiding with Sarah – Daddy had told her that at all costs they had to protect us. Even if he died, he said. Hide, stay away from them, and keep the children safe.

Mom and Sarah were hiding upstairs. I was his only hope. I couldn't go closer – the thing would kill me.

_Coward,_ I screamed in my own head. _Filthy coward, get over there and _help _him!_

On shaking, unstable legs I moved forward. My dad's eyes bulged as he saw me go closer towards the Infected. "No –" he tried, but the Infected took a swing at his face and he had to jerk his head back to avoid it, the tendons in his neck jutting out like stiff wires.

I leaned over and felt the cold steel of the revolver in my hand. It felt alien... _wrong_ in my grip. I raised it with unsteady fingers, even as my dad's eyes grew even wider, as he wordlessly begged me to run.

I wouldn't do it. I aimed the gun – it was so heavy, weighing my arms down, they hurt – and I pointed the barrel at the thrashing pair.

Suddenly I was hit with a sharp stab of panic. What if I missed? I had never even _touched_ a gun before, let alone fired one. Dad absolutely forbade us to have any contact with firearms. I could just as easily shoot him as that thing.

I tightened my finger around the trigger. Nothing happened.

"Run!"

_Run!_

_No, fire, kill it, save him, NOW!_

Casting aside all panic, all doubt, closing my eyes, I pulled again, this time with more force. The weapon in my hands bucked like an angry bull, wrenching itself backward, and I stumbled away and fell to the floor, the gun falling from my limp hands. But I knew I had been successful – that blinding, ringing sensation in my ears, even more powerful and strong since it had erupted right next to my face, was a surefire sign that the thunderbolt had hit.

A loud, pained shriek rent the air, and my dad shoved the Infected away as it thrashed and scrabbled at its leg, where dark blood was coursing out in rivulets. He scrambled backward, grabbed the gun where it had fallen, and aimed at the Infected.

With one shot, its life came apart with its head.

All I could hear was the painful, fast beating of my heart, and my dad gasping for breath.

I don't know how long I lay there – it seemed like eons, but it can't have been, because then Daddy was there, picking me up, whispering to me, carrying me upstairs, where Mom and Sarah were. They came from a closet, faces streaked with tears. Mom let out a gut wrenching sob and attached herself to us, Sarah at her side. We stood there, enfolded, still one family, even as the world went to hell around us.

I didn't know it then, because my dad had hidden it so well. He was wearing a long sweater, so we couldn't see. I couldn't see the long, jagged tear the Infected's teeth had left in his arm.

x x x x

Three weeks ago.

Three weeks ago when the infection hit.

Twenty-one days since I saw my father die.

Seventeen days since I've seen another normal human being.

My name is Kari Benson. This is my story.

I've been holed up in this house ever since.

They think they've got me, but they're wrong. I won't let them win this one.

I know there must be others out there. Others like me, still normal, still alive.

They can't have gotten them all.

So I'll wait. I'll wait, and I'll write about the Infected. I'll gather information, document their symptoms. I'll beat them.

I'll find others, and I'll beat them. We'll beat them together. This won't be in vain. I may only be a thirteen year old girl, but I'll beat them, so help me God, I will find a way to fix this.

That, or I'll slaughter every one of them. So help me God.

This will _not _be the way the world ends.

x x x x

_2800 miles away, another man woke with a start._

x x x x

He felt tired. It was rare that he got a good night's sleep nowadays – he was too worked up about the things that circled around him outside, snarling and crying out in their feral, sick hunger.

He was tired, but he would go about his business as usual.

Something warm and sticky slapped him across the face once, then repeatedly. The corners of his mouth twitched before breaking out into a half-grin. "How'd you sleep?" he asked. Of course, the dog didn't answer, just continued licking his face in its dog-happy manner. He laughed.

"I don't care how much you try, I'm _not _getting you that Pedigree bone. It'll cut your gums, you know. It's dangerous. I've got to be your dentist, you know."

The German Shepherd cocked its head at him and let out a soft bark. He laughed again. "Look, we'll compromise. No Pedigree, but I found a cool pet store yesterday. We'll raid it today, and I'll bring you back one of those funny barbecue flavoured chew toys. You dig that?"

Bark! Good. That must mean yes. The dog's tail wagged furiously, and it resumed licking his face. He playfully rubbed its head. "Alright, alright, let's go Sam," Robert Neville said, and as one they left the room and went downstairs.


	2. Journals

_Day 27:_

The sun was just beginning its descent down the horizon when she finished attaching a large metal rack to the roof of the station wagon outside the house. Kari wiped her sleeve across her brow, frowning slightly as she surveyed her handiwork. She reached out with a hand and closed it around the cool metal, tugging at it gently. It didn't budge. She pulled harder, and was pleased when she didn't hear the rattle of loose metal. It would hold.

"Wicked," Kari spoke into the empty air, wincing almost instantly as the unsure, hesitant sound of her voice broke through the stiff silence. The wind was blowing leisurely through Oak Terrace Drive, brushing against the trash and debris left behind by an entire city in the chaos of evacuation. Small bits of paper and plastic shopping bags fluttered around in the breeze, turning over and over as they floated on the wind. Kari turned and looked up the street, watching the sun as it began to painstakingly move through the sky.

She looked at her watch: 5:20 p.m. She would be cutting it very close indeed if she tried to venture out now, but she had spent the last four days wandering around on foot, gathering the equipment she needed to make the car operational. She couldn't afford to keep moving around on foot – it was too slow. And to make matters worse, she was running dangerously low on food supplies.

_I'd only be heading to the supermarket,_ she reasoned in her head. _It would take half an hour at most. I'd be back before sunset – it'll be fine._

_But do you really want to take a chance?_ Another voice argued. _Food means nothing if you're dead._

_I'll make it._

"I'm going to go," Kari announced to no one, as if waiting for a reprimand or an all-clear. Nobody answered here, and her voice echoed forlornly through the empty and still street, completely devoid of human life.

_But not for long._

Kari turned and crossed the street, heading up the driveway towards her house. She quickly ascended the steps before tugging her door open and opening the closet to her right. There was no point in locking the door – well, not during the day. None of them knew where she was – and as long as things stayed that way, she was safe.

Kari rummaged through the closet until she found four large UV lamps, which she had taken from the Science Center. She hefted them in her arms, and made her way unsteadily back to the station wagon, tottering slightly under their awkward bulk.

It didn't take long to attach the lamps to the car rack. As soon as she finished, her watch began to beep incessantly, reminding her that it was 5:30 and that she only had a half-hour before the sun set. Kari removed her hands from the roof of the station wagon, staring apprehensively at her watch as the second hand slowly crawled across its face. She looked hesitantly into the sky, where the sun was only a foot away from merging with the horizon in a blood red line.

_I'll go tomorrow,_ she decided. Food wasn't worth getting herself killed. She would just go hungry tonight, that's all.

Kari crossed the street again, which suddenly looked much more menacing and dark. Deep shadows from beneath the parked cars lining the street were marring the asphalt with their black, formless shapes. At the park at the end of the street, a large willow tree was swaying in the wind, its fronds reaching out to her like pleading fingers.

"Get a grip," she said angrily, starting once again at the sound of her own voice. She walked up her driveway steps without looking back, and went back inside her house. She crossed through the living and dining room into the kitchen, and pulled open the pantry, where she had stashed her most important food and survival supplies. The entire space housed mostly canned goods, but she had only been to the supermarket once, and she had brought back only enough for a week. The pantry was mostly empty, with only a couple cans of soup and peas. Several large jugs of vinegar and bleach were lined neatly at her feet, whereas a long wooden shelf she had built along the side (a process that had taken three days, much tears and cursing) was full of bottles of wine and other alcohols.

Kari pulled a jug of bleach from the floor and lugged it back to the porch, where she tugged the cap off and doused her steps in the clear, pungent liquid. She listened to the _glug glug_ sounds as the chemical slopped onto the porch steps, watching gravely as the streets were bathed in a deep golden glow.

_Not long now._

After she had emptied the jug, she carried it back inside, this time locking the door securely behind her. She pulled a long metal bar from its upright perch next to the door and fitted it into the slot she had likewise installed on the third day.

She went to the stove and pulled out a can of chicken noodle soup, not in the mood to put much effort in. As an afterthought, she turned the kettle on. While the soup was heating in a pot on the stove, she went through the entire house, making sure every window was bolted shut, and checking the thick wooden boards that were nailed across them from the outside. None were loose.

Vaguely Kari thought that she should look into some other way of blocking the windows. Eventually the Infected would see the boards and surmise that a survivor was inside. Or would it? She had observed them carefully from the cracks between the boards, and had come to the conclusion that in their current state, they were nothing more than animals. They exhibited barely any signs of intelligence, but instead acted like a pack of wolves, snarling and shrieking into the night air.

_Maybe shutters,_ Kari mused. _I could use sheet metal from the woodshop at school._

The sky was rapidly getting darker, losing its reddish-magenta colour and slowly turning bluish-black. She glanced at her watch again – five to six.

From downstairs, the kettle let out a shrill whistle.

Kari turned out all the lights in the upstairs rooms before venturing downstairs again. Out of force of habit, she checked the door again, and the windows in her living room. She had left enough space between two of the boards to see through, but it was small enough so that nothing could see in.

She hoped.

She went back into the kitchen and selected a bowl from one of the cupboards before pouring the steaming soup into it. She then went about making a cup of tea – she had found it helped her relax and get to sleep easier. Soup did that too, sometimes.

By the time she was finished, the howls had started.

Kari pressed her lips together tightly and tried to ignore the shrieking noises that were emanating in the night, seeming to rip right through the walls of the house and into her head. She looked at the microwave clock. 6:02. The bastards were beginning to come out earlier, or at least they were trying. Dusk was no longer even relatively safe.

Kari sat down at the dining room table and quietly drank her soup, gritting her teeth every time one of the Infected's roars pierced the night. She felt that familiar, red hot rage building within her blood, in the very marrow of her bones, as she remembered what they had taken away from her.

_If I can't cure you, I'll make sure every last one of you burns,_ she vowed.

Even after finishing her soup, she wasn't even remotely tired. There was no way she would be able to sleep now, if she tried. Kari began to pace up and down the living room, pausing every now and then to drink from her tea cup. What should she do to kill time? Watch a movie? No, they might see the flickering light from outside, no matter how small the gap between the boards was. That would have to wait until she assembled shutters. Put on music, then? No. The house wasn't soundproof, and unless she kept it really quiet...

She closed her eyes, only to have them fly open seconds later.

She would write.

With an objective in mind, Kari felt much better. She bounded upstairs to get her journals, which were lying stationary on her bedside table. A lump formed in her throat as she saw Sarah's bed, but she swallowed it brutally and left the room before the tears would start.

She settled herself at the dining room table, pausing to sip tea before rifling through the notebook to a blank page. She pulled a pencil from within the binding of the notebook, and then placed it at the head of the page. Slowly, attempting to ignore the howls from outside, she began to write.

_Kari Benson  
Journal Entry 37_

_Day 27_

_I finally installed the roof rack onto the Jefferson's station wagon today. It took a while, but I still remember a lot of what Dad taught Nick about handyman stuff, even though I'm a girl and I never thought I'd ever need the knowledge._

_How times change._

Her hand faltered as she wrote her brother's name. Even writing the letters that formed him were painful enough to make her heart ache. For the hundredth time, Kari stared into her steaming teacup, thinking about her older brother, wondering what had happened to him. Nick had gone to university a year ago, and hadn't been in L.A. when the infection hit. He had been studying abroad in Marseille. She hadn't heard from him for two months before the breakout of the Krippen Virus.

As tears pooled in her eyes, hot and scalding, Kari began to write again, blinking hard, furious at herself. Why did she torture herself, thinking of everything she had lost? To block her own thoughts, she continued to write.

_I need to resupply the house – we're running low on canned goods._ Kari blinked, looking with surprise at the word _we're._She still referred to the house as having more than one occupant, as though her parents and siblings still resided under its roof.

_I don't want to get into the stuff in the freezer if I don't have to. At least canned stuff doesn't spoil. The generator's still going strong, and thank god, because without it I'd be done. I'm really lucky Dad installed that – now I just need to make sure it doesn't fuck up._

"_Don't swear, Kari!"_ She smiled through her tears as her mother's voice reverberated inside her head.

_I haven't had any close encounters with the infected since last Monday – Day 25. I haven't seen any other people. I think I'm alone in L.A. now._

_Tomorrow I'll head to the supermarket. I've got the UV lights mounted on the wagon, so I should be fine. I'm going to go to the police station too... I feel like some more ammo. I've still got all of Dad's guns stashed under the bed in their room._

She couldn't think of anything to say. She felt hollow, as though something had plundered her body and left her vacant and dead.

_I'll spend the next little while gathering supplies and replacing the window boards with metal shutters. When I have enough ammunition, I'll go hunting for the second time._

She paused. There was nothing else, really.

_I miss you all. Mom, I hope you're not suffering embolisms from the state of the house. I still clean it, you know. I vacuum every Sunday. Even though I don't get allowance anymore._

Her throat closed up and she couldn't continue writing. Kari bent over, shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs, but she kept her lips pressed together and did not make a sound even as the tears poured in rivers down her cheeks and landed on the page, blurring her words.

When she had emptied herself utterly, the tea was stone cold next to her. The howls were still loud and painful in the dark.

_Hope you're all in a nicer place now. As for the Infected, evaluative notes to be taken upon next encounter. Time to see what makes them tick._

_Until next time._

_Kari_

**A/N: So what do you think so far? It would be greatly appreciated if you would submit a review and leave feedback. More action will follow in later chapters, I just wanted to focus on the more routine parts of this survivor's life.**

**Please review! **_  
_


	3. 28 Days Later

**A/N: Thank you very much to those who have reviewed! It is much appreciated. This chapter is again more psychologically based, but the following will have a bit more action thrown in. Enjoy!  
Don't forget to leave a review!**

_Day 28:_

When Kari awoke the next morning, bright beams of sunlight were being filtered through the cracks in the boards covering the bedroom window. They cast deep gashes into the floorboards, heating the carpet-covered hardwood in thin strips. Within each slice of sunlight were millions of dust particles, swirling and congregating like a swarm of insects. Kari closed her eyes again, thinking blearily how fascinating it was that so much dust could exist in one spot. She lay there for several minutes, feeling exhausted enough to lie there for centuries, watching the dust turn invisible as it flitted out of the sunbeams and into the half-light of the room. When her alarm clock suddenly erupted next to her, she automatically reached over and shut it off before forcing herself to abandon the warmth and comfort of her bed. Yawning widely, and shivering in her thin pyjamas in the cold winter air, she shuffled into the bathroom.

Inside the room of white marble, Kari bent over the sink and twisted the tap, wincing at the loud squeak as it moved, and the thunderous rush as water began to cascade into the sink. She splashed some onto her face, gasping as the cold water seared into her forehead and cheeks. The icy shock brought her rudely to full wakefulness. Kari ignored the cold and washed her face and hair, scrubbing herself more vigorously than was needed. She welcomed the harsh, painful sensation on her face. She wanted to scrub the memories right out of her head.

Eventually, when her face was pink and raw, she gave up her fruitful attempt and towelled herself off, before wandering slowly back into the bedroom. She shed her floaty periwinkle coloured pyjamas, shivering slightly as her bare form was exposed to the cold air.

Kari dressed quickly, donning a pair of light grey track pants and a matching grey sports shirt. Then she went downstairs into the kitchen, pulling the last, mostly-empty box of Shreddies from the shelf above the table. She poured the cereal, doused it in milk and began to wolf it down, eager to fill the gaping pit in her stomach. The air in the kitchen was chilly; it was likely only twenty degrees outside.

After Kari finished eating, she went into the living room and turned on all the lights. It was surprisingly dark in the house with all the windows boarded up, and even so, having light around as a constant companion helped to soothe her frightened nerves. Even though she was using them up unnecessarily, she enjoyed the small comfort they offered. She resolved again to replace the boards with metal shutters.

Kari eased the front door open, allowing the cold January air into the house, before bending down and pulling on a pair of scuffed and dirty running shoes. She grabbed her iPod from the coffee table, walked out the door, and closed it behind her. She made her way through the biting cold air, shivering, down her driveway and into the deceptively bright morning. Oak Terrace Drive was – unsurprisingly – deserted. The Jefferson's station wagon lay stationary in their driveway, its UV lights untouched on the roof rack. Trees on the front lawns of the houses of her street swayed in the wind, their skeletal branches creaking and snapping like the broken dead. Kari turned her face away, stuffed her headphones in her ears, and began jogging up the street.

Oak Terrace Drive was silent in the early dawn hours. The golden light that slowly lit up the sky was bathing the sidewalks and asphalt in a deep golden glow, warming her skin slightly through the cold winter air. Pieces of trash and dead leaves stirred on the ground in the almost non-existent breeze.

She called it the silent time: the precious moments in the heart of every dawn, the very beginning of each morning, when everyone in her neighbourhood was asleep, and even the earliest risers were nestled deeply in dreamland. On the backstreets, there was no hum of traffic, no whistle of car tires, just a deep, profound silence. The hum of moving cars could only be heard on the major streets. It was the most comforting time of day for Kari back then.

Now every day was the silent time.

She jogged away from the cul-de-sac of her house and up the winding path of Oak Terrace Drive. Her street ended in a bowl-shaped dead end, with bushes and shrubs of the backyards leading out to another street. Otherwise, the road came to a halt. She liked where she lived – it gave off a sense of protection, as though she only had to watch her street. Everything was covered and protected from behind.

The breeze stirred faintly, playing with individual strands of her hair as it flowed around her head like a golden halo. Kari's breath was slow and easy. The cool air felt good on her bare stomach as the heat within her flushed through her system. She had started her running routine since Day 20. It had become apparent that in order to survive, she would need to be in peak physical condition. She ran every morning, for half an hour. Later on in the day she would do sit ups, crunches, pilates, anything to limber herself up. She needed to be strong.

She turned up Metallica and the thunder of their voices crashed around her ears as she ran, darting to the end of Oak Terrace Drive and turning toward the Echo Street. The rock music drummed against her eardrums as she jogged past empty cars, their blank interiors depressing and awful. She ran past the roadblocks on South Avenue 50, where broken shards of glass blanketed the street like diamonds, and where multiple cars lay smashed together, their hoods crumpled into metallic abominations. She breathed deeply as she curved down North Figueroa Street, past the dropped suitcases that lay open like deprived mouths, their contents fluttering in the breeze: sparse articles of clothing, a hardcover book or two, canisters of lipstick. Her sneaker soles slapped loudly against the pavement and their tongues flapped outward like that of a dog, seeking moisture.

"No Leaf Clover" took her through the forested backdrop of Sycamore Terrace, with its empty, cold trees. "Enter Sandman" resounded in her ears as she rounded the diamond shaped curves of Dustin Drive. "Hero of the Day" mocked her as she turned around to run back to Sycamore Grove Park.

She didn't want to hear the silence. Not anymore.

She ran long and hard, until her iPod had finished its rounds and she was drenched with a layer of perspiration. She jogged back home, impatiently kicking off her sneakers in the doorway and dashing upstairs to the bathroom. She peeled her sports shirt away, tossing it into the hamper, before wiggling out of her sweatpants and retreating under the refreshing spray of the shower.

When she had finished soaking herself completely and pulled back the curtain, the mirrors were covered with steam and she couldn't see herself. She wrapped a towel around herself, tucking it in before exhaling loudly in the sauna of her bathroom.

Today she would have to go to the school. And the supermarket. And the hardware store...

Running her chores through her head, Kari raised a pale hand and wiped a smear away from the mirror, looking at her steam-distorted reflection. Her eyes, still as green and vibrant as palm fronds, sparkled back at her. But they were dulled with pain – fresh, aching pain that made her look as though she had seen a war. Her lips were still pillowy and pink, but tight, as though she was constantly upset. Her hair, gold mixed with copper and tan and lemon, lay in curls around her damp shoulders like a crown of liquid sand. She looked like a hybrid between the laughing, summery, silken Kari of two months ago... and the hollowed, dark version of herself that lived now.

_I look dead,_ she thought. _I don't look like a thirteen year old kid. I look dead._

_I miss what I used to look like._

Almost angrily, she wiped her hands across the mirror, blurring her reflection away. She had no business missing that part of herself. That part was dead. That part was gone.

Forever.

She turned away. She had stuff to do.

x x x x

Half an hour later Kari was ready to go. She had dressed in a pair of jeans and a ruby sweater, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She had her map of L.A. She went to her parents' room and pulled the bin full of weapons from under her parents' bed, trying not to look at the pictures on the nightstand for too long. She looked through the assortment of black and silver metal. She selected a Heckler and Koch USP handgun and an MP7 submachine gun. She piled them into a beige shoulder bag, along with several ammunition clips and magazines. She would pick more up later. Then she went downstairs.

When passing through the kitchen, she grabbed a long serrated kitchen knife and wrapped it in a towel before putting it in the bag. Then she went outside, locked the door, crossed the empty street and open the door of the Jefferson's station wagon. _Might as well call it your own,_ she thought wryly. _The Jeffersons are never going to use it again._

She ran her fingers across its shiny chrome surface. It was sleek, a silvery grey colour, with a hint of white. Almost like a dolphin.

She smiled, remembering her astronomy studies back at science in grade 8.

"I'm going to give you a nickname," Kari said aloud, to no one. Wait. Not to no one – the car was right there. But not just a car any longer.

"Delphinus," she said quietly, smiling. It was fitting. She could no longer look at the stars – but this would help.

She got inside and twisted the keys. The engine rumbled to life.

"Let's get going," she said, and she pressed her foot down delicately on the gas pedal. Her dad had taught her how to drive in the country, giving her lessons here and there when they would go to the cottage of a family friend – when her mother wasn't looking, of course. Her dad was more terrified of getting caught than she was. But it was a good bonding experience, remembering how meek and flustered he got after he took her driving on the dirt paths and came back to find Mom in the driveway, holding a croquet mallet and looking none too amused.

The memory brought on a wave of others, and Kari smiled through her tears. But there was no time to be sentimental.

She glanced over at the to-do list on the seat next to her: just a torn piece of paper, with several words scrawled on it:

_Wal-Mart:_

_Non-perishables  
Cereal  
Detergent/bleach/vinegar_

_School:  
Sheet metal  
Textbooks  
Writing utensils_

_Hardware store:  
Refill toolbox_

_Police station:  
guns_

Kari sighed and shook her head before slowly coaxing the newly-named station wagon out onto the street.

x x x x

The roads were full of crashed and abandoned cars set up in intersections and before roadblocks. It took her almost an hour and a half to get to the grocery store, because she had to pause every five feet to avoid bumping into any other cars. She also marked on her map what roads were blocked completely with red ink – if she ever needed to make a quick escape, she would need to know what routes to take.

What with marking the map and avoiding car wreckages, Kari was irritable and bored by the time she reached the supermarket. She carefully parked the car in the near-empty lot, and got out. The temperature had risen since when she had taken her morning jog; she wasn't even that cold in just her t-shirt and sweater at the moment. She looked around the deserted lot, feeling that there was a strange _Night of the Living Dead_ feel to it – even though it wasn't even past noon.

She had attached a leather strap to her gun so that she could carry it over her shoulder until she needed it. She left the bag and map in the car, but took her to-do list, knife, and pistol, which she tucked into the waistline of her jeans. She shivered slightly as the cool metal caressed her stomach.

Taking a deep breath, Kari stood in the middle of the empty lot, looking at the vast, empty supermarket, standing before her like an empty museum. Earlier it was full of laughing, bustling humans. Now it was ripe with the scent of the dead.

She slung the MP7 into her hands and tightened her grip. A building that size could house a fair number of Infected. A Hive of fifty plus, easily. When she had come last time, she hadn't seen any. But a lot could change in two weeks.

"Time to play," Kari whispered, and she crept toward the dark entrance, her heart pounding. It was time to become what she needed to be – efficient, fast, deadly. If she came across any Infected, she would not hesitate. They killed her family.

_I won't hesitate._

She went to the doorway. One of the glass doors was ajar. She slid inside its gap, and let the darkness swallow her up.


	4. Shopping Spree

**A/N: Hello again! I apologize for the length of time it took for me to update this time, but I recently had exams and I am about to move, so my life has been very hectic as of late. Thank you very much to everyone who has read/read and reviewed this story, it means a lot. :) Well, then, let's get right to it, here's my first action chapter. Hope you all like it!**

**Don't forget to review! **_  
_

_Day 28:_

The interior of the shopping center was dark and empty. All of the light came from outside. Sunlight streamed in, lighting up the darkness in short flares here and there. Most of the inside of the superstore was littered with shifting shadows, and in every alcove, nook and cranny, an Infected might be waiting to ambush her.

Kari stopped in the entrance, taking short, quick breaths as she fought against her fear. Her common sense was screaming at her to _get out_, and _now_. Logically, a building of this size could house dozens, maybe even hundreds, of the hairless, blood-sucking fiends. If she made the wrong move and alerted one to her presence, the Hive would awake in seconds. That is, if it was a Hive.

_Stop it,_ Kari thought firmly, wrestling with her disquiet as she struggled to control her breathing and her traitorously beating heart. _You came here for a reason. You need supplies. You'll be dead within days if you don't take care of yourself. You came here with a job to do._

_So do your goddamn _job,_ Kari!_

The 13-year old teenager steeled herself and took her first, shaking step into the darkness of the shopping center. Then she took another, and another, and then she was slowly making her way forward into the darkened building, leaving the shifting patterns of comforting sunlight behind. The noise of the wind died down as she went further into the mall, and soon, Kari was enveloped in total silence.

Her breath came rapid and frightened in the dark. She flicked on the flashlight she had attached to the MP7's barrel, and soon a bright cylinder of white light was cutting a swath through the darkness. She aimed the gun to and fro, tightening her grip on it as it threatened to slip from between her sweating hands. The beam of light travelled across the floor, illuminating her path as she quietly picked her way past the row of gleaming shopping carts and a tumbled over pile of shopping baskets. She bent down and grabbed one, feeling the icy steel handle against her palm, before slinging it over her shoulder. Kari then stepped over the remainder, looking around and tiptoeing softly around the mess as she made her way through another grouping of doors and into the grocery/pharmacy section of the superstore.

_Non-perishables, cereal, and bleach or detergent,_ Kari recited in her head as she entered the freezing, deserted mall. Goosebumps immediately broke out over her flesh underneath her sweater. She wiggled her toes to warm them up and ventured into the darkened grocery section.

She could feel the cold from the floor seeping into her shoes, numbing her feet. The stiff, dead air in the mall around her was likewise slithering inside her shirt, rippling across her chest and stomach and causing her to tremble in the cold. Kari began thinking longingly of her house on Oak Terrace, with bright lights and heated by a powerful generator...

_Focus, damn it. You let your attention wander, and you die. Remember where you are._

Kari snapped to and hesitantly walked into the grocery store, coming to a halt at the fruit section, which was the immediate area closest to the entrance. She wrinkled her nose and suppressed gagging. The entire display of fruits and vegetables were brown, rotting, and dead. The stench of dead cabbage, rotting apples, and sour grapes met her nostrils in a sick blend.

"Ugh..." Kari couldn't help but release a small, tiny sigh of disgust at the stench of the fruit section. She immediately pressed her lips together, frightened that she had made a noise, but there was no ominous creak of footsteps, no low growl of the Infected. After a few seconds, Kari realized she couldn't bear breathing through her nose, so she opened her lips again and began to make her way through the dead display of fruit toward the pharmacy.

The entire store appeared to be deserted. As Kari moved through the dark aisles, she could see no sign of life, and no sign of the Infected. However, the store looked as though a tornado had swept through it. The pharmacy floor was littered with small bottles and boxes of pills that had been knocked from the shelves. Several bottles of cough syrup had been smashed open, and the dark, black liquid had pooled on the ground like blood. The thick aroma of Buckley's and other cold medicine hung heavily in the air, wreaking havoc in Kari's nose again. Toothbrushes lay unused in their plastic coverings all over the floor. Kari hesitantly picked her way through the pharmacy, looking around uneasily. It was quite possible that the wreckage had been caused by panicked survivors trying to loot as much supplies as they could before L.A. was evacuated, but the damage could also have easily been done by the Infected.

Kari cast a furtive look around. Still no sign of life. It was now or never. She turned towards the shelves again and began scanning the labels of the rows of medicine on the shelves, muttering under her breath as she read them by her flashlight. Every time she heard a noise, she jumped and whirled around, aiming her gun wildly. It always proved to be nothing, but Kari was too paranoid and terrified to calm down. Every shifting shadow appeared to be the writhing form of an Infected running straight at her.

Kari quickly heaped containers of medicine into her bag. Advil, Tylenol, cough syrup, toothbrushes, vitamins... everything she could think of, she took. By the time she had finished, the basket was almost overflowing.

_Time to head back to the car. _Carts were too risky; they made too much noise when wheeled around. They would draw the Infected like lice to a sweaty head in summer. Better to play it safe. She would just have to make numerous trips, that was all.

Kari cast another look around before starting back toward the store entrance. The huge windows that covered one entire wall of the superstore were covered with blankets, cardboard, and a plastic tarp, blocking the sunlight from entering. It looked to Kari like an incredibly poor defensive mechanism against the Infected. That meant that people had tried to hide in here... and were probably dead by now.

_Don't get sidetracked, Kari. Go on, go back outside, to the car..._

She did. She walked as quickly as she could, trying to move quietly, and suppress her quick and painful breathing. After several unbelievable tense moments, something gold came into view, shifting, changing...

The sunlight from the open doors! Eagerly, Kari walked even faster, attempting not to run for fear of making too much noise. Closer and closer and...

Fresh air! She was outside! Kari strode out into the bright sunlight and cold air, breathing deeply through her mouth and laughing wildly. She was outside! She was safe.

Kari ran over to Delphinus and popped the trunk before throwing the bundle of pharmaceutical drugs into the compartment. She turned back to the store, taking another deep breath. The bright blue sky and the streams of wispy clouds had never looked so inviting. She didn't want to go back inside. Inside was bad.

_I've been in once before. I was fine. I can do this!_

Kari squared her shoulders and moved forward, and the first steps were the hardest. But then she was moving quickly, purposefully, gritting her teeth. _I can do this. _Then the sunlight was gone and she was back inside, the soft whisper of the breeze executed by the strong, thick walls of the superstore.

Kari began to methodically sweep through the grocery store, moving up and down aisles and clearing them of produce before heading back to the car to deposit them. With each successful run she grew bolder, and calmer. She was doing fine. She was going to be okay.

Trip 1: Juice. Apple, orange, pomegranate. Grape, cranberry, fruit punch. Coca Cola. Mineral water. Soon her arms were buckling under the weight, and before long she was tottering back outside, weaving left and right as she struggled to support all the canisters.

Trip 2: Canned goods. Soup, pork and beans, tuna, and more. Trip 3: Packaged goods. Jell-O, packets of microwaveable noodles, Saltines...

Kari swept through the store, taking peanut butter and jam, honey, bars of chocolate and packages of gum, breath mints, coffee, tea, bleach, salt, sugar, until she had everything she had come for. She even took a minute to stop off at the alcohol shelves. She filled the basket with bottles of wine, rum, whiskey, vodka, and more, smirking as she did so. Most of it would go towards being used as a scent covering against the Infected, but it was a shame to let it all go to waste. On her last trip, after filling her basket with small bottles of different scented air freshener and one huge jug of vinegar, that was when she saw it.

Kari was heaping the air freshener into the shopping basket when she saw the dark smear on the floor. She froze, halfway suspended in the act of lowering a bottle of lime-scented air spray into the basket. She took a step forward, training her MP7 and its light on the floor. The black liquid turned red in the illumination.

Blood.

The dark smear that marred the floor led in a slithery trail down the aisle and towards the meat section, which Kari had avoided up until now because it positively _reeked_. It looked as though something had been dragged through the store by... something else. There were frenzied handprints embedded in the blood smears, and several bottles of air freshener had red smears on them, as though the poor victim had tried to seize the items on the shelves to prevent him or herself from being dragged away.

_No. No, no. No._

Kari took a tiny step forward, swallowing hard as she followed the blood trail through the store, toward the meat processing area. The stench was overpowering. Boxes of frozen beef patties had been ripped open and devoured. Frozen steaks, chicken, sausages, ham, every bit of it was ripped into and shreds of it plastered around the area. Kari choked and almost vomited when she swallowed, and resorted to breathing through her open mouth as she moved forward. _Get out, get out, get out_ her mind was screaming, but for some unfathomable reason, she did not.

_You _know_ what's back there, get out, get _out –

The smears ended at the double metal doors leading into the meat processing area. _No, no, no!_ She moved forward, almost unbidden, her heart searing in her chest._No._

She placed her hand on the cold steel of the door and pushed it open, when suddenly her entire world froze around her. Not five feet in front of her, nestled in the thick shadows, was a half-eaten corpse, lying in a pool of dried blood. Small flies were buzzing in and out of its eye sockets, which had been gouged open. The left side of its face was torn to shreds, and its throat had been ripped wide open, as had its chest. Sharp, white ribs poked up through the ripped shirt, crusted with blood. One of its arms was missing.

_No no no no_

Kari could not look away. The smell almost made her pass out. She took a shaky, trembling step backward, the basket weighing down her arm, the shaking beam of light wavering over the corpse

_no no no_

when it came across a pair of feet. White, pale feet, so ghostly and devoid of colour that she could see dark blue and purple veins through the skin surface.

_This is not happening. I am not seeing this._

Glistening, hairless white legs. Torn rags for clothing. Sharp, jagged limbs, elongated nails, sharp claws. Rapidly moving bodies, chests rising and falling, _huh, huh, huh,_ as they took their short, high-speed breaths.

Kari Adrianna Benson was standing in the meat processing area, looking at more than fifty Infected, standing side by side, facing her.

Time slowed to a crawl. The next five seconds seemed to last an eternity. Kari had stopped breathing. Her heart had stopped beating. The flies had stopped buzzing. She stood immobile, feeling within her the silence of the entire world, as she gazed upon the blood-crusted faces of the Infected. Their eyes were shut, but she could see their lids flickering rapidly, as though they were dreaming. Their mouths gaped open, gasping at the air, and their teeth... their sharp, blood-stained, yellowing teeth, flashed dimly in the dark.

She had been so stupid. So incredibly foolish and naïve. The items that had covered the windows had not been put there by survivors. They had been put up by the Infected.

She was standing right in the middle of a Hive.

_GET OUT OUT OUT OUT_

Finally, Kari listened to the voice inside her mind and began to creep backwards. She shut off the flashlight on her gun barrel, not wanting the flickering light to attract the attention of the Infected. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming, forcing herself to breathe.

_Just back up. Out the door, and out of the store. Come on now, easy does it..._

Kari moved backward at a crawl, her gun trained on the mass of Infected even though she knew full well that it was useless. There were too many. If even one of them woke up, she was done for.

One step. Two. Three. Then a clink behind her – she had reached the door. Kari moved one hand back, feeling for the handle, without taking her eyes off the Infected. One of them snorted under its breath, and Kari froze. But then the Infected quieted, lapsing back into its dream-like state.

Kari slowly, painstakingly pushed the door open and moved out of the processing area. She took another step backward when suddenly something crunched under her foot. A package of chips, discarded and thrown from one of the shelves.

The noise was louder than an explosion in the silent store.

Kari froze. Through the small rectangle of glass, even in the darkness, she saw two glowing red dots, bright as burning coals, suddenly appear in the black as one of the Infected's eyes opened. For a split second, it didn't move, and both girl and monster stared at each other through the glass rectangle. Then the Infected opened its mouth, and Kari broke into a run as its piercing scream ripped through the empty supermarket.

An instant later the doors to the processing plant burst open and a blur of white and black thundered out at her. _So fucking fast,_ Kari thought hazily, as she ran through the aisles. She heard the thump of the Infected's hands and feet as it ran after her on all fours, snarling like a feral cougar.

She heard it round the aisle corner, and then it barrelled at her like a freight train, howling at the top of its lungs.

Kari took aim, fear distorting her movements and causing her fingers to shake. She pulled the trigger once, and the MP7 kicked in her arms, blowing a hole through a soup can a meter from the Infected's face.

_Miss!_

She tried again, squeezing the trigger in a panic. Bullets exploded with loud roars from the gun's muzzle, but none struck the Infected, which was closing in at an alarming rate. Suddenly, in Kari's mind, she saw herself staring out her window as an Infected bolted up her driveway, eyes alight with hunger...

"No!"

The Infected was less than five feet away when the next shot caught it directly in the throat. Its head snapped back, and it collapsed onto the floor in a spreading pool of blood.

This whole exchange had taken less than five seconds. But even now, as Kari stood dumbly and in shock, she heard a telltale rustling coming from all around her, in all directions. Suddenly a cacophony of shrieks and howls pierced the silent air.

The Hive was waking up.

_Don't just stand there, you idiot, move!_

This time she didn't hesitate. Kari took off like as though shot from a catapult. From behind her, she heard the rapid pounding of dozens of limbs as the Infected scrambled after her. She raised her gun over her shoulder and pulled the trigger wildly, even as she ran. She heard a pained shriek from behind and she knew she had gotten at least one of them, but more were coming. Too many.

As Kari tore past the pharmacy, she could see the exit doors up ahead._ You're almost there, almost safe,_ she thought, but then she saw a blur up ahead as several pieces of shadow detached and formed the shape of the Infected. More were coming, to block off her escape route. She was trapped.

_I'm going to die,_ she thought hazily, as she turned right and screamed through the fruit section, still clutching her SMG and basket. She could see the shadows of the Infected coming at her from all directions. They'd be on her in less than twenty seconds.

There! Up ahead – another exit! But this one led further into the adjoining mall. More of them probably nested in that death trap. She was walking – no, running – to her doom.

_This is the only chance I have._

She took it.

Kari ran out the entrance to the grocery store and down the vast hallway of the department store. A no-longer working escalator was up ahead, leading to the second floor. Kari ran for it, gulping in air as the Infected snarled and raced after her. From stores along her sideline she saw glowing red eyes blinking into existence in the darkness – there were easily more than a hundred.

_Fool, fool, fool!_ She raged at herself. _Why did you come back here? It's too big! You should have known this was too dangerous! The Hive is too big!_

She ran up the metal steps of the escalator. She whirled at the top, and felt a jolt of fear and surprise when she saw the Infected were already at the bottom. She opened fire, emptying the rest of her clip into the writhing white mass at the bottom of the stairwell. Blood splattered and burst into the air, and the Infected began screeching in pain and rage. Several of them fell, blocking the escalator and clogging the path with their dead weight as the other Infected tried to scramble over them.

_Great. That should buy you about four seconds – _

One Infected took a huge leap and vaulted at least ten feet into the air, bypassing the blockade at the bottom of the escalator and landing in its middle. Kari could only gape in astonishment before the Infected took another leap, directly at her.

Kari shot it in midair.

The top of the Infected's head was sheared clean off, and the corpse fell heavily onto the sharp metal steps as bits of brain and bone splattered the railings. Kari took off, not pausing to reload her gun. She had no time.

Instead, she wrenched the cap off a bottle of air freshener and sprayed it madly, dropping the bottle as it exploded into a wisp of fragrant smoke. The scent would – hopefully – disorient the Infected for a short while. Sure enough, there were several confused shrieks from below as the Infected jostled, not understanding why the scent of their pray had suddenly vanished.

Using the distraction, Kari darted across the second floor landing, hearing loud _thumps_ as the other Infected began scaling the walls and leaping over the escalator. She chanced a glance behind her, and saw one of the Infected crawling up a pillar, before clambering, spiderlike, over the balcony railing and coming at her on all fours.

_Fuck!_

Kari swerved, but the Infected took a leap and collided with her in midair. Her gun went off with a _bang_, punching a hole through one of the feeble coverings on the ceiling, blocking the huge roof of windows, isolating her from the sun. She felt a jarring thud rip through her bones as the cold weight of the Infected crashed into her, and she could feel the heat of its rancid breath as it snarled and snapped its jaws inches away from her face.

Adrenaline took over. With an absurd flare of strength, Kari used the momentum of their fall to flip over, shoving the Infected away from her with all her might. She crashed into the railing of the second floor, but the Infected's momentum and force sent it sailing right over the edge, shrieking all the way down. Then there was a sickening _crunch_ of breaking bones and pulping skin as the Infected hit the ground.

Kari scrambled to her feet, dizzy and weak with pain. It was over. The Infected had caught her scent again and were scaling the walls all around her, coming at her on all fours like rabid dogs, and they came from every direction. Red eyes glared at her from all corners of the mall, and her clip was empty.

_I'm dead._

Her clip was empty!

Kari's neck whipped around and she looked at the ceiling, where her last bullet had lodged. It had punched a hole in the cardboard covering on the ceiling, and a tiny, dime-sized beam of sunlight was filtering through...

This gave Kari an idea.

Knowing she had only seconds, Kari reached into her pocket and yanked out a small hand grenade, the only one she had. She had found it in her father's stash. He had been afraid she would be accidentally harmed by it. Now, it might be the tool of her salvation.

Kari pulled the pin and hurled the grenade skyward with all her strength, like a tennis player about to serve. _Please,_ she thought. _Please._

The Infected were ten yards away when an explosion shattered the air, a rampaging, bellowing explosion that incinerated the coverings on the glass roof and tore the blankets and tarps to shreds. Kari ducked as flaming shrapnel rained down from above, and then it happened.

Sunlight poured in in torrents from the sky, flooding through the opening in the roof and drenching the mall in bright, golden light. All around her, the Infected suddenly began screaming, not in hunger or anger, put in pain. As she watched, dozens of them collapsed around her, scrabbling at their pale, translucent bodies, even as their skin began to blister, blacken and burn. Open sores and burns erupted on their faces, arms, and torsos as the sun seared into them. Dozens more attempted to flee into the safety of the darkness, but fell as the sunlight drained their life from them.

"Yes!" Kari yelled, pumping a fist into the air as the Infected shrieked and moaned, dying at her feet. She ran up to the closest one, only three yards away, and stomped on its blistering face. It screamed once, blood gushing beside the burns, before Kari brought her foot down and the Infected's life came apart under her foot. "Die! Burn, you stupid motherfuckers! BURN!"

_Don't swear, honey..._

_Sorry, Mom. _

_Thump, thump, thump. _Infected fell from their positions on the walls. Infected fell from the railings. Infected fell on the first floor.

Within minutes, Kari was surrounded by nothing but dead Infected bodies. She stood there, choking air into her screaming lungs, before reloading her MP7, seizing the basket, and stumbling toward the exit, terrified, cold and hurt. Towards the outside, towards the sun, towards safety.


End file.
